Avatar Aiya
by Sinistrae
Summary: There are so many 'what ifs' in life. Well, what if Aang were not Aang, but Aiya, a [one hundred and] fifteen year old girl? She is the last airbender, the Avatar, and the world's last hope. And she does not wear orange.


_There are so many "what ifs" in life. Well, what if Aang were not Aang, but Aiya, a one hundred and fifteen year old girl. She is the last airbender, the Avatar, and the world's last hope. And she does not wear orange. And I'm not telling you the pairings because I don't know them either._

Obviously enough I don't own Avatar, because if I did then I wouldn't have to resort to fan-fiction. I've never even written Avatar anything before; I haven't even seen all the episodes, so I'm relying on vague recaps! Also, I need to point out that I couldn't quite figure out how to characterize Appa with a female lead, so I replaced him with a snowy owl named Azra; sorry! Fear not, for Aiya is not based on me, any of my friends, or any living person as far as I know. I'm trying to avoid Mary Sue-ville, but please point out to me if I start going down that path. Well, thank you and enjoy!

**Book One: Water  
Chapter One: The Girl in the Iceberg**

Drowning happened to be Avatar Aiya's greatest fear. It also looked as though this were the fate that awaited her and her companion, the giant snowy owl, Azra. Waves broke over the duo; Aiya attempted to scream but only a stream of bubbles emerged from her mouth, leaving her without air. She floundered, panic flooding her mind, Azra's great wings beating the water around them, ivory feathers swirling every which way. As if a spirit were guiding her, Aiya's mind suddenly cleared fast enough to realize that perhaps she could bend their way out of this, and live to see another day. And so the fifteen year old girl, in this last act of desperation, clasped her hands together and conjured a giant air pocket. She thought they would emerge from the water safely, but the last thing she remembered was seeing one of Azra's smaller feathers pass before her face before her world went black.

The next thing she knew, she was waking up to a pair of concerned blue eyes. Startled, Aiya tumbled away, back into the iceberg she'd apparently emerged from. Her head reappearing into sight, she observed the girl she'd woken up to. She was dressed in blue, her brown hair done up very nicely. A boy who looked to be her brother stood a few feet behind her, clutching a spear and looking both startled and suspicious. They were standing in an obviously arctic environment, and Aiya shivered, not liking to be caught unawares. There was a curious tingling sensation all over her body, and Aiya came to the conclusion that her air pocket had frozen over. How long had she been encased in there with Azra? A few hours? A day? A week? No, surely not so long, they would've died. Oh wait, Azra!

"Where is Azra?" demanded Aiya, diving back out of sight and into the iceberg. She could see in her mind the siblings looking at each other and then after her. Before they could ask who in the world "Azra" was, Aiya had located a mass of quivering feathers. She ran her hand over it, ruffling the large feathers gently. The hunk of ice began to tremble and Aiya leapt away as the owl burst free, beating her magnificent wings and crying out in joy. Aiya's rescuers, as she now began to think of them, did not need to ask who Azra was.

The owl's golden eyes, quite as large as Aiya's slightly swollen head (that would be literally), observed the now horrified looking boy, whose spear was now raised half-heartedly, and the extremely surprised girl, whose eyes were very wide. The white feathers of her neck and chest rose slightly as she continued to stare, but as the unfamiliar humans showed no signs of hostility, the feathers smoothed down again. Azra hooted softly, and Aiya smiled shyly.

"I'm sorry I startled you… my name is Aiya," she said, deciding to leave out the "I'm the Avatar" part. The girl stepped up, regaining her composure long before her brother. She held out a hand as she spoke.

"Hello Aiya, my name is Katara, and this is my brother, Sokka," Katara said, indicating the boy behind her, who was just beginning to regain his bearings. Aiya stared at her hand for a moment before firmly clasping it in her own. Katara shivered.

"Your hands are so cold! How long have you been in the ice?" she questioned, though she did not yank her hand away. When Aiya looked puzzled, Katara realized that even she did not know. Both girls were quiet for a minute as they slid their hands apart and Katara took in Aiya's odd appearance. Those designs on her pants and sleeves… they seemed to be… "Are you an airbender?" Katara asked suddenly. Aiya nodded slowly. "But airbenders disappeared almost a hundred years ago!"

That's when Aiya realized she'd been frozen for more than a week.

* * *

Aiya sat eating a dinner of some sort of soup, thinking. On the way back to their village, Katara had asked if she'd ever known the Avatar, who disappeared shortly before the airbenders were wiped out. Aiya had allowed a pink tinge to build in her cheeks before stating that, while she had seen the Avatar, she did not know her whereabouts. Which, of course, was a lie. She didn't know why she lied to Katara, who was very kind to her, but she just felt afraid of revealing who she was. Would she chase her new friends off? Or worse, turn them against her? Did they hate her for disappearing when they needed her most?

"Aiya, are you okay? You've been awfully quiet." Katara turned to look at her, and Aiya felt her cheeks positively burn as the rest of the village turned to stare as well. They seemed to have taken a Sokka-like stance concerning her, and didn't seem as trusting as Katara. In fact, were it not for the young waterbender, it seemed unlikely that she would be very welcome at all.

After dinner, Aiya had set out to explore the small village a bit, something which did not require too much effort. However, due to the stares she was attracting, she decided it might be better to seek out Katara instead. No sooner had that thought come to her than Katara emerged from a nearby hut.

"Katara! Oh, hey, where's Sokka?" Aiya asked, head cocked slightly to one side. Katara chuckled.

"He's still eating. He's always eating." The two giggled together before Aiya asked if they could go for a walk so she could look around. "There's not really much to see, but sure." So the two left the village, speaking of nothing of any significance, going on down a slightly worn path.

"Hey, what's that?" asked Aiya, pointing out a ruined metal ship.

"It's an abandoned fire navy ship, from when the Fire Nation attacked our tribe," Katara said sadly. "We've been warned to never go on board…" But her warnings fell on deaf ears; Aiya was already jogging clumsily towards the ship. Katara grumbled and trotted after her.

"Aiya! Aiya, where are you?" Katara called, her voice echoing eerily off the cold metal walls. She shivered; she knew if Sokka were here, he would be advising her to go back. But he wasn't, she was alone, and had to find Aiya. "Aiya, this is dangerous! Where are you?"

"Here I am!" A grinning head poked out from a doorway, waving Katara towards her. "Isn't this place cool?" Aiya smiled and walked further into the room.

"Aiya… let's go back. This place is creepy, and I have a bad feeling about thi-"

"Uh-oh…"

Some miles off the coast, a firebender named Prince Zuko, along with his Uncle Iroh, saw the flare go off.

"There…" murmured Zuko, and he set off to order the ship towards the continent, and, his instinct told him, to the Avatar.

_It's so different! I know; I only saw the first episode once, and Aiya makes decisions a little differently too, being a fifteen year old girl as opposed to a twelve year old boy. Sorry for the lack of Sokka, too; there'll be more of him later. I'll reply to any reviews with questions (that I can answer, anyway). Much love, bye bye for now! _


End file.
